Feed apparatus for automatic guns.



L. V. BENET. FEED APPARATUS FOR AUTOMATIC GUNS.

7 APPLICATION FILED MAR. 20, 1909. 95 ,073, Patented May 17, 1910.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1- APPLICATION FILED MAR. 20, 1909.

Patented May 17, 1910.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

L. v. BENET.

FEED APPARATUS FOR AUTOMATIC GUNS. APPLIUATION FILED MAR. 20; 1909.

958,078. v Patented May 17,1910.

3 SHEETS-SHEBT 3.

' eaaots. i

- which the same parts declare the following granted July 30, 1907.:

-. UNITED STATES PATENT orn cn. i

LAURENCE v. E ET, OF PARIS, FRANCE;

FEED ArPARATUs EoE AUToMA'rIc GUNS.

To all whom it may concern: Be it known that I, LAURENCE V. Bnmi'r, a citizen of the United States, residing at Paris, France, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Feed Apparatus for Automatic Guns; and I do hereby to be a full, clear, and exact description 0 the invention, such as will enable others skilled 'in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My present invention relates to improvements in feed apparatus for automatic guns, and it relates more especially to a suitable form of feed strip intended for use in semi automatic guns of thegeneral' type, ilu'strated and, described in the patent to. ent & Merci, gas-operated gun, No. 861,939,

My invention will be understood by reference to the accompanying drawings, in are indicated by the same letters and numerals throughout the several views. v

Figure l is a rear elevation of the gun showing the feed strip in place in the gun, with most of the cartridges fired. Fig. 2 shows-a cross section through the receiver of the gun, looking towardthe breech, with the feed strip, cartridges and feed piece in ele' vation. In this figure, the cartridge fired has just been extracted, and the feed strip has not been moved to supply a fresh cartridgeto'the chamber. Fi 3 shows a similar section to Fig. 2, but wlth the feed strip moved so that the hext cartridge is in the loading position. Fig.4 is a perspective view of the motor piston for operating the .various parts of the automatic gun. Fig-5 shows a section along the line 55 of Fig.

2, looking down. Fig. 6 shows afsimilar section to Flg. 5, but with the geed piece rocked to another position. Fig. shows a section along the line 77 of Fig. 6, and looking in the direction of'the arrows. Fig. 8 is a detail view showing the coaction of the feed piece, feed strip and feed spring. Fig. '9'

1s a plan-view showing the parts indicated in elevation in Fig. 8. Fig. 10'is-adetail showing in perspective the feed spring. F ig. 11 is an inverted plan view of the feed strip, parts being broken away, and Figs. 12, 13 and 14 indicate the method'of. reinforcing one of the holding clips of the feed strip.-

The operation of the several parts is sub- Specification of Letters I atenti.

shaped tong v the om of the feed strip and the top f 'the cartridge. a

cam faces 7, f a'nd stantially identical with that fully illus trated and described in the Bent & Merci Patent, N 0. 861,939, aforesaid, and for con- Patented May 17, 1910C Application filed March 20, 1909. Serial No. 484,604. I f

venience of reference thevarious parts of the L gun and'receiver will be'referred to by the same letters as in the drawings and specification of the aforesaid patent.

C represents the receiver of the gun, having a casing CT" for the feed-piece M. The receiver is also provided with a wedgewhich projects between D represents a hollow cylindrical housing screwed into the side 'of the receiver, and carrying a plunger E, having its head 6 pressed forward by a spring e, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3. F represents them'otor piston having the f ,.as described in -the patent aforesaid. I I

G represents the breech block, which is scribed inthe patent aforesaid.

R ,represents the loading guide for the feed strip, the forward end of which is pro- .vided with overhanging ribs-rengagin .the end of the feed s r1ng(see Figs. 2 an ,9).

(i; is fully described in the c This loading gui patentaforesaid.

M represents the feed piece, which is jour- 85 naled at its lower end in the casing C, as: shown in Fig. 2, and'its upper end n rojects through the hole in the end of the eed l p iece. consists of a vertical shaft M, carrylng an arm M hav- 90v spring N. "The feed operated by 'themotor-piston, as fully debig a feed lug M which is beveled'upward,

as at m, and has an engaging face m '(see Fig. 2). The vertical shaftM also carnes two'arms Mand "M both of which have rounded ends, and the. latter of which is I provided with two beveled faces m and m,

as shown most clearly in Fig. 7. The feed piece has a lower bearing m, which projects downward through the socket 0 in the supthere is no feed strip in the'gun, willnormally drop down to the position shown in Fig. 7, owin to the ressure downward of Ngwh the spring ose ree end presses downward on the upper end of the feed piece, 1'

and whose .fixed end ishe (1 beneath the face 7 of the motor piston, and will arrest 11 1 1 porting piece C and the arm M when I 55 tridge,

the forward'movement of the motor piston in returning to the initial position, said arm then being held between the beveled faces a of the receiver and f of the motor piston, thus holding the motor piston against further travel. Now, however, if the feed piece be lifted, either by hand, or by inserting a fresh feed strip, then this aim M will be released from engagement with the motor 10 piston, and the latter will return forward to the initial or closed breech position, as fully described in the patent aforesaid.

The feed spring N not only tends to press down the feed piece M until the'same is lifted, as by the insertion of a fresh clip,

but it also has another function,that is,

it acts as a pawlto prevent the backward motion or back lash of the feed strip 0.

This result is obtained by roviding a downwardl-y-projecting claw 1& having an inclined face at, and a holding edge 11?, which latter is projected downward into one of the openings 6 in the feed strip, while the inclined face 9?, is wedged upward as the. feed I strip is fed forward, as will be hereinafter described.

The feed strip 0 is preferably made of a single piece of sheet metal, corrugated as at o, to increase the stiffness of the same, and having a (plurality of holding clips 1 and 5, stampe out 'of the same. Each cartridge is held between two clips 5, engaging one side thereof, and a third clip 1, engaging the opposite side between the ,two clips 5. This clip 1 is preferably provided with a rib '2, to make the same more rigid, and this rib may be conveniently constructed, as shown in Figs. 12 to 14. In Fig. 12., the plate 0 has a hollow boss 2 stamped out of 1t. In Fig. 13, the cut '3 is made through the plate, and in Fig. 14, the clip is shown in full lines as. artly pressed down through .the plate, the al for'm taken by the clip being shown in dotted lines in' said figure.

4 This rib 2-then becomes in fact a double rib connected by an arch at its back, and adds.

great stiffness to the clip 1 This increased stiffness isespecially desirable, since in the rapid firing of the gun the feed strip is fed forward violently, tending to throw the cartridges out of alinement with the loading apparatus. The feed strip 0 is also provlded with. lugs 7 stamped out of the same to engage in rear of'the rim of the. carwith a hole 6 near the end of, the late to receive the engagingv arm of the eed spring when the last cartridgehas been fired, and ,with a projection-8 havin a thumb lug 9. The end clips 5 are stampe out of the end-of the plate 0, as shown in Fig- I K The operation of the device 18 .as followsSuppose the feed strip to be inserted by hand, with the cartridge position, and the motor plston to be within the loading drawn to the rearward position; as the motor piston goes forward it will force the cartridge into the chamber, close the breech block, and fire the gun,as fully described in thepatent aforesaid, and in its forward travel the cam f will strike the arm M which is automatically lifted out of engage.

ment with the face a (see Fig 7) by the insertion of theoartridge case as aforesaid, and .this cam f will rock the feed piece M,

causing the wedge face on on the arm m to slide back over the edge of the holes 4:, lift- I ing the feed piece slightly against the action of the spring N, and when the holdingface m reaches the next hole 4, it snaps down into the same, and remains in the engaging position until the motor piston flies back ward again. In its backward movement, the

cam face 7 engages the arm M on the feed piece and rocks the same in the reverse direction, causing the arm h 2 to push the feed strip forward and feed a fresh cartridge. As the feed strip moves forward, it presses up the inclined face a.- of the feed spring N until the holding face a snaps-into the next hole 6, and this holding face n? will prevent back lash of the feed strip when the arm M once more rocks back to the engaging position. Thus it will be seen that the arm M pushes the feed strip forward with a step by step motion while the arm N of the 'feed spring holds the said strip against back .lash. Since the gun fires very rapidly, these various motions are very rapid, and the cartridges are fed forward violently. This requires a stiff holding clip on the rear side of each cartridge, and the same is reinforced,

as hereinbefore described. shock of the movement of the cartridge forward, the spring plunger E is provided, which bears against the forward side of the cartridge ,case, as shown in Fig. 3' as the same nears the loading'position. .l hus To ease the it will be seen that the cartridges are se curely held inthe clip until pried loose by the tongue 0, and are steadied to the loaded position by means of the ger E, from which position they are pressed into the chamber of the gun, asfully described in the-patent aforesaid. In order to remove a feed strip from the gun when the cartridges carried by the same have not all been fired, it will only. be necessary to lift the feed piece by hand and takeout the strip. This lifting of the feed piecewill raise the feed lug M and will also raise the lug N .on the springrN, thus removing all obstacles tothe with from the gun.

It will be seen that I provide a s mple, durable andj effective cartridge clip, which may be cheaply g of a single stri ofimetal, and which may be used over an over again, if desired. J

Having thus described my inventi'omwhat awal of the feed strip yielding plunmade by being stamped out I claim and desire to secure by p 1. In an apparatus of the character described, the combination with the motor piston, a feed strip, means operated by said motorpiston for moving said feed strip forward, means for 'detachin the cartridges from the feed strip and for ceding the cartridges serz'atim, and a spring plunger engaging each cartridge as it is detached from the feed strip near the loading position, substantially as described.

2.- An apparatus of the character described, comprising a motor piston, a feed strip, means operated by said motor piston for imparting a step bystepmotion to said feed strip, clips carried by said feed strip, cartridges held between said clips, means for I detaching the cartridges from the feed strip,

and a spring lun er en a ing each cartridge as it is detached frgm the feed strip near the loading position, substantially as described.

3. An apparatus of the character described, comprising a motor piston, a feed strip, means operated by said motor-piston for imparting a step by'step motion to said feed strip, resilient clips carried by said feed strip for engaging one side -of the cartridge, and a reinforced clip carried by said feed strip engaging the opposite side of the cartridge, cartri ges held between said clips, means for detaching the cartridges seriat'im 4 from the feed strip, and a spring, lunger engaging each cartridge as 1t is etached from the feed strip near the loadingposi tion, substantially as described.

4. A feed strip for use in a gun of the character described, comprising a metal sheet, resilient -"c1ips. stamped out of said sheet for engaging one side of the cartridge, and other clips also stamped out of said sheet and provided with a hollow reinforced portion in the back thereof to stiffen same, the said strips engaging the opposite side of said cartridge, substantially as described.

5. A feed strip for use in a gun of the character described, com rising a metal sheet corrugated longitudinally, resilient clips stamped out of the sidesofsaid sheet exterior to said corrugations and adapted to engage one side of the cartridge, other cli s also stamped out of said sheet between said corrugations and adapted to engage the other side of the cartridge, said latter clips being provided with a hollow reinforced portion'to stiffen same, and lugs stamped out of said sheet and adapted to engage the rims of the cartridges, substantial y as described.

6; A feed strip for use in a gun of the character described, 'com rising a metal sheet corrugated longitudinally, resilient clips stamped out of the two sides of said sheet and adapted to engage one side of each cartridge, and reinforced stri s 1 provided with double ribs 2 impresse therein stamped out of said sheet between said corrugations, and adapted to engage the other vside of the cartridge case, with end lugs 7 stamped out of the side of the sheetand adapted to engage the rim of the cartridge,

substantially as described.

In testimony whereof, I afiix my signature, in presence of two witnesses,

LAURENCE V. BENET,

Witnesses: V

A. Y, LEEQH, J12, T. A. Wrrnnasroon, 

